GTX780 vs GTX970

[pak]

I'm inbetween GTX970 and GTX780 for an additional unit to my 780ti. A few weeks ago 970 was very much blamed for bad performance but lately I'm hearing more good things about it then bad things. What do you think?

Both are around the same price - which would be a better pick? Anything to specially consider?

Open to suggestions - if any other unit is around the same price/performance range please enlighten!

[Tos]

Check this link: http://render.otoy.com/octanebench/resu ... ingleGPU=1
As you can see, the 980 performs slighty better than the 970. Both have 4gb vram, so go for the first one, or - better choice - buy another 780ti, because you won't be able to use the additional +1gb on the 980.

[gazukull]

I think the 780 ti is the sweet spot for us at the moment. I just picked up 2 on Ebay for 350 each... which is a pretty good price all things considered.

[grimm]

Both have 4gb vram, so go for the first one, or - better choice - buy another 780ti, because you won't be able to use the additional +1gb on the 980.

I think you meant to say 970 here, the 980 doesn't have any issue with the last gig of memory, that I know of anyway. I was surprised to see just how well the 900 series is doing compared to the 780 and Titans. I agree if you can find another 780ti then that is probably what you want to get. That way you have a matched pair with the same memory.

[pak]

Oh just corrected ^ I meant 970 and 780
Another 780ti would be cute but it's pretty expensive in comparison with the other two

[grimm]

Thinking about it some more and it looks like the 780 is probably your only choice. Having the extra memory will not help you very much with the 970 as your 780ti only has 3 gigs and, if you want to use the extra memory, then you have to leave your fastest card out of the mix. The 780 is faster than the 970 and has the same amount of memory as the 780ti, so unless you desperately need the extra memory, I feel the 780 would be a better choice. And to add that the last 1 gig of memory on the 970 slows down the card, it makes the 970 even less of a good choice.

[glimpse]

Hi, Maxwell Based cards (aka second gen, 9xx line, & first gen 750) are not bad at all, but like most GTX cards they were made for games - majotity if their optimisations are targeted to that. Problem with Maxwells compared to Keplers was in softwar support, Octane Render was not optimised for a while after their release& to recomend any of 9xx line card was hard enough..Now as this ismore or less solved (as I understand) You can star consider those cards & it all comes down to Your specific needs & budget.

As You have 3GB cards You might be tempted to get 3 GB card, not to waste extra vRam, but on the other case having 4gb card, pluging monitor in it will be beneficial as You will not eat any of that 3GB of vram for system usage =)

On the other side I'd probably look into 780, but not 3GB..if You can look around You might be able to find 6GB card for not su much more 300-400$ is a price some Guys grab them lately. As discontinued products, those are viped out from stock not to mess with value of new cards..

For octaner is not about new card, but about it's performance & total value..You can hardly beat 780 6GB from Kepler line, though 780TI might look faster even compared to 980 it also has "only" 3GB.. - it depends on Your key needs..& what is important when You look for card, but neither of those are bad =)

P.S. Cards are very sensitive to cooling..if You can provide good enough solution, I mean enough air or even water loop - You can gain a lot of extra performance (up to 30-40%). As some findings, based on Octane Render usage users like Sebastian sum up that 3x cards can perform as fast as 4x cards..- we have a long long article, nearlly 7000 words on my site with him - if You interested feel free to check it =)

[pak]

Thank you for these detailed replies.

I don't think my current setup is suitable for overclocking gpu's (pretty tight case) - and currently only 1000W psu; so I was considering 970 because of its lower power consumption. However I just checked the prices for another 780ti and there is not much difference inbetween, possibly because the card is considered "old" rather than "capable".

Hm.

[darkman222]

I recently ran a few tests with a GTX 780 vs. a GTX 970. I rendered two different scenes with each of them. The GTX 780 rendered scene A in 50 seconds, scene B in 225 seconds. The GTX 970 rendered scene A in 59 seconds and scene B in 230 seconds. So the GTX 970 is 5 to 10 seconds slower than the GTX 780 although it has a higher chip rate and a higher boost. Any idea how to make the GTX 970 faster? The GTX 780 is not mine and unfortunately I have to give it back to my colleague somewhen.